Although speech recognition has been around for decades, the quality of speech recognition software and hardware has only recently reached a high enough level to appeal to a large number of consumers. One area in which speech recognition has become very popular in recent years is the smartphone and tablet computer industry. Using a speech recognition-enabled device, a consumer can perform such tasks as making phone calls, writing emails, and navigating with GPS, strictly by voice.
When speaking to provide an input or command, a user of a mobile device does not generally interact physically with the buttons or touch-screen display of the mobile device. For example, the mobile device may be located nearby on a table or in a cupholder or tray of an automobile console. In this case, the user often prefers to receive feedback to their command in the same manner, e.g., audio feedback. Software or applications (e.g., “apps”) on a mobile device use a text-to-speech engine that provides generated speech as an audio output based on a text input; however, these apps use default volume settings for playback on the mobile device which may not provide sufficient volume for the user to hear the audio output.
Output volumes of a mobile device may be inconsistent with the various components of the device. For volume control, volume adjustment may be confusing to the user due to the fact that volume keys may control different types of volume based on a current context. Also, the output volumes of the mobile device may be difficult to hear in certain environments. For example, audio output of a mobile device, particularly audible speech, may be difficult to hear when the volume level is set to a low level. This is particularly evident in noisier environments, such as the interior of a moving vehicle where road and wind noise may be present.